Aluminum hydroxide gel is a standard therapeutic for the treatment of peptic ulcer and other symptoms of gastro hyperacidity. Liquid aluminum hydroxide gel closely approaches the ideal for an antacid. However, its liquid form makes it inconvenient to use, especially in the case of ambulatory patients. It would be very desirable to have the advantages of such a gel in dried form, but unfortunately aluminum hydroxide gel undergoes undesirable change on drying during its manufacture and further changes upon aging of the dried material. In the dry solid form it exhibits a lag in its rate of reaction with stomach acid and does not give a prolonged acid effect in the optimum pH range. In addition, its antacid properties are severely affected by pepsin and its activity is less than that of the liquid gel.
In our copending patent application Ser. No. 423,226 filed Dec. 10, 1973 we disclose antacid compositions prepared by codrying basic aluminum bicarbonate-carbonates with certain di- or trihydroxy alcohols to form dried gel compositions which are readily resuspendable to yield the same characteristics as the original liquid gels.